Fox Bites, Sound Bites & Stumbles

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History buff’s return to Abingdon

Hendrika Schuster is coming to the Abingdon Senior Center today to portray the character of First Lady Julia Gardiner Tyler, the wife of the country’s 10th president, John Tyler.

“The only emotion I’m going to have is nervousness because I haven’t done anything like [this] in three years,” Schuster said in a telephone interview last week.

Schuster, 83, lived in Abingdon for 24 years. In 2006, she and her late husband, Vic, moved outside Richmond, Va., to live with relatives. For the past couple of years, she had been quite busy helping to care for her husband, who died a month ago. Schuster said he is excited and nervous about her return to Abingdon, and to acting, today. We welcome her back and wish her great luck.

Taking a fox bite in stride

Authorities in Prescott, Ariz., say a jogger attacked by a rabid fox ran a mile with the animal’s jaws clamped on her arm and then drove herself to a hospital. The Yavapai County Sheriff’s office said the woman told deputies she was on a trail near Prescott on Nov. 5 when the fox attacked and bit her foot, The Associated Press reported.

She said she grabbed the fox by the neck when it went for her leg, but it then bit her on the arm.

The woman wanted the animal tested for rabies so she ran a mile to her car with the fox still biting her arm. Then, she pried it off and tossed it in her trunk and drove to the Prescott hospital.

The sheriff’s office told the AP that the fox later bit an animal control officer. He and the woman both received rabies vaccinations.

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Anything-goes talk radio

Local radio host John Quaintance, who anchors the 6-7 p.m. weeknight slot on Super Talk WFHG (92.7) with his Quaintance & Company, had a chance Nov. 6 to put a caller in his place.

The caller said something to the effect: “Well, we’ve got the Little Rascals in the White House now. Buckwheat and Alfalfa.”

Quaintance responded: “Which one is Alfalfa?” and then explained “I’m dense.”

In more ways than one. Quaintance’s response should have been to hang up after saying: “We don’t allow racists on the air.”

Comparing Obama to Hitler

U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., continues to insist that his fears are legitimate –  that President-elect Barack Obama might take Americans’ guns and use a new national security force to declare himself dictator.

On Tuesday, a day after raising the possibility that Obama could be the next Adolph Hitler, Broun stood by his remarks and defended them as appropriate. Broun made headlines Monday when he raised the possibility that Obama plans to establish a security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship.

“That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany, and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did,” Broun told AP on Monday.

“When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him, that is as strong as the U.S. military, he’s showing me signs of being Marxist.”

Obama referred to the civilian national security force as part of a call for expanding the Peace Corps and other volunteer programs, according to a July 2 Chicago Tribune article about the speech.

Broun claimed media outlets sensationalized his comments, but he reiterated his concerns. “I never called Mr. Obama a communist, nor did I accuse him of being Hitler, but I do not apologize for stating the obvious: His socialist views are out of the mainstream of American political thought, and history shows that ‘civilian national security forces’ bode ill for citizens,” Broun said Tuesday.

Broun should apologize for his behavior, but don’t hold your breath. He’s got a friendly audience of scared and suspicious followers in his district, apparently.